To everyone who is angry with North Carolinians:
I’m a registered Republican who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I have something to say to those of you who are angry enough about Amendment One’s passage to consider boycotting the Democratic National Convention: “Don’t hate us, educate us.”
My adopted home state of North Carolina (I’m a native Floridian and lived there until 2009) just passed Amendment One by a large margin. Interestingly, only part of the proposed constitutional amendment’s actual text was placed on the ballot: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.” Voters were asked to vote “For” or “Against” the Amendment. North Carolina’s voters are registered as follows: Democrat, 43.44 percent; Republican, 31.38 percent; Independent/Unaffiliated, 24.96 percent; Libertarian, .22 percent.
While Amendment One was always expected to pass, opponents of it (of which I was one, as was my wife) rallied against it as the election drew closer, and many polls showed that the gap was closing. Ultimately, however, North Carolina voters passed it at a rate of 61 percent to 39 percent. (It is important to note that Mecklenburg County — Charlotte — voted against the Amendment.) In addition to the intended consequences of the amendment, many of us worry about the unintended consequences. As a 16 year attorney licensed in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Federal Court, my legal analysis (and those by other intellectually honest attorneys) causes me to conclude that the consequences of Amendment One will reach far beyond “gay marriage”.
This has caused a significant national backlash, including many who want this fall’s Democratic National Convention to be moved away from Charlotte. Since that isn’t going to happen, many have talked of boycotting the DNC as a way of protesting the amendment, and North Carolina in general. To you I say: please kill us with kindness.
What better way to begin to pierce the fog of what you perceive as ignorance than by coming here and demonstrating yourselves to be good and valuable citizens? What more magnificent reaction to perceived hostility than delivering to us, in person, good will and an offer of friendship? What more effective counter to perceived discrimination than bringing acceptance and an open mind directly to us?
If you feel that North Carolinians have let you down, or showed themselves to be small minded, now is your chance to rise above that, to be better than it. For the Democrats among you, please realize that this amendment could not have passed without strong support from the registered Democrats in North Carolina, who constitute the largest political party here by a wide margin. Please take this opportunity to visit us here in Charlotte, and in North Carolina, and see if you can perhaps change some minds. After all, in a country like ours in which we have moved past politics over the barrel of a gun, changing the country starts with changing enough minds. Thank you.
This article appears in May 8-14, 2012.
Silence is interpreted as agreement.
I would like to see many national companies rethink whether or not they want to conduct business in NC.
we are number 31. you act as if we are the first. this is sad. do you all forget about prop 8. that was in Cali for goodness sakes. you people are sad. speek truth not crap.
Opponents of the Amendment did a very poor job of educating voters on what all was in it. Obama avoided it because he knew Black ministers were telling their flocks to vote FOR it and he didn’t want to step on their toes.
I’m confused as to why this amendment/issue is such a BIG deal.
Our country is in a state of turmoil, and the LBGT community feels that this issue is of the utmost importance. They are ALWAYS trying to force their viewpoints on others.
Here’s some FACTS:
According to the 2000 Census 1% of American households are homosexual.
According the latest gallup poll, less than 10% of the population is homosexual.
The same gallup poll also showed that average person estimated the homosexual population to be 20%. (DOUBLE what it actually is, the idiot box/movies are working)
The current unemployment rate is right at 10%.
I don’t about you all, but I feel that unemployment, the economy, international policies, white collar crime, and corruption in congress are way MORE IMPORTANT issues to be tackling than this one. I mean our state is BROKE, do you all know that?
My open ended question to everyone, especially the LBGT community, is why can’t we tackle the more pressing issues first? The same percentage of people are unemployed/homosexual, which one takes precedence over the other?
Lastly, I just want to state that I’m all for equal treatment under the law. However, there are more important things for our lawmakers/community to be spending time on than this. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!
@WoodIfYouCould: Oh, good grief! Are you stupid or just misinformed? The LGBT community aren’t the ones who brought this up. It was far-right religious conservative Republican bigots in the General Assembly who brought this up and put it to a vote. The LGBT community simply went into all-out defend-yourself mode — like any group of people being discriminated against would do.
Interestingly, your logic is a bit twisted. If only 20 percent of the population were African American, would it be OK to not offer them all the rights and freedoms afforded everybody else since we have other pressing issues to deal with? Let’s turn it around again: If only 20 percent of the population were, say, white male Christians. Would it be OK to discriminate against them?
How about this: Let’s deal with unemployment, the economy, international policy, white-collar crime, corruption AND human rights. I think we can handle one more, um… minor issue.
@Brian
It is never ok to discriminate against anyone for anything.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, being discriminated against for your race (as in your first example) is NOT the same thing as being discrimated against for being gay. I’m a numbers/facts guy. show me ONE scientific discovery to the contrary. You CAN’T, so that would make it a belief.
None of these BELIEFS are allowed legally but, would you be offended if a rastafarian was smoking in public? What about a nudist walking around a grocery store/restaurant/etc? How about a pedophile and a willing participant going home together? If you said yes to any of these, is that discrimination Brian? Does that go against their human rights? After all they do believe what they are doing is right for them.
We should just make it to where EVERYONE can just do whatever they want, whenever they want. Right?
I think not…
As stated in my previous post, I’m all for equal treatment under the law especially for tax breaks, insurance, and hospital visitation.
But this issue only affects less than 10% of the population. The economy and congressional corruption for instance effects EVERYONE, gay or straight. As the saying goes, you can’t eat the elephant in one bite, but you can one bite at a time.
Prioritize and game plan, that’s how you fix problems!
So, WoodIfYouCould, should the LGBT community and their supporters in the state have simply shrugged their shoulders when the moral crusaders on the far right decided to try and further marginalize them and strip them of more rights (and unmarried straight couples too, even), and what, not voted? Not protested?
I’m not sure what you’re arguing, considering who’s on the offense and who’s on the defense.
@Stu, I think Woodifyoucould is saying that with the state of the nation, we should be focused on more important issues. I’m not really sure how you would determine what’s more important than the other, but I do agree with that logic for the most part.
I’ve been unemployed for a year now and I would love to see Obama being interviewed on the econonmy and unemployment by abc news instead of his stance on same sex marriage.
No Stu, I don’t think any group of people should let something happen to them if they don’t agree. To that same point I wasn’t arguing, just bringing facts to the table hoping that some people will read it and realize whats being done.
Do you really need a reminder of what else we should be writing open letters about? If you do, you’re either oblivous or a complete moron.
@Anna, I was unemployed for some time last year too, keep your head up! Tomorrow may be the day…
Look, I don’t disagree that there are lots of issues that, by at least some of the criteria, are more important to more people. My point is that you seem to be blaming the wrong people for the prevalence of discussion on LGBT issues at this particular time. The people who proposed the amendment and others elsewhere like it, and continue to try to out-do themselves with provocatively discriminatory speech are deliberately stirring the pot and making this a scandalous issue that is DESIGNED to garner national attention. It seems a little strange to point the finger at the people who are singled out or sympathetic and get wrapped up in the ensuing firestorm.
@WouldIfYouCould writes: “First and foremost, being discriminated against for your race (as in your first example) is NOT the same thing as being discrimated against for being gay. I’m a numbers/facts guy.”
What does your being a “numbers/facts guy” have to do with your previous sentence? And I’m a bit confused why you’re asking for a “scientific discovery” to counter your statement about discrimination against someone’s race being somehow different from discrimination against someone’s sexuality. I suspect folks are either being discriminated against or they’re not. And if one family is not receiving the benefits that another family gets, it’s pretty sound logic to say that the family not receiving those benefits is being discriminated against.
But your point about there being other important issues is well taken. The bigots in the NC General Assembly who chose to hold a vote on a law that writes discrimination into the state constitution most certainly should be spending more time on more pressing issues and not on writing flagrantly discriminatory legislation.
What is truly amazing is that an article this dull was followed by such passionate commentary. What is an article that is about as exciting as an insurance seminar doing in Loafing anyhow?